That's close enough that I'll flip over the remaining cards and hand it to you, Iznogood. The detail is indeed from Raphael's School of Athens. Plato is said to be pointing toward the heavens to say that the world of ideals is what's the most important thing for philosophers to consider. Aristotle is said to be pointing toward the earth to show that what is important is what we can discover through investigation.

Commentators have suggested that nearly every great Greek philosopher can be found within the painting, but determining which are depicted is difficult, since Raphael made no designations outside possible likenesses, and no contemporary documents to explain the painting. Compounding the problem, Raphael had to invent a system of iconography to allude to various figures for whom there were no traditional visual types. For example, while the Socrates figure is immediately recognizable from Classical busts, the alleged Epicurus is far removed from the standard type for that philosopher. Aside from the identities of the figures depicted, many aspects of the fresco have been variously interpreted, but few such interpretations are generally accepted among scholars. The popular idea that the rhetorical gestures of Plato and Aristotle are kinds of pointing (to the heavens, and down to earth) is a likely reading. However Plato’s Timaeus – which is the book Raphael places in his hand – was a sophisticated treatment of space, time and change, including the Earth, which guided mathematical sciences for over a millennium. Aristotle, with his four elements theory, held that all change on Earth was owing to the motions of the heavens. In the painting Aristotle carries his Ethics, which he denied could be reduced to a mathematical science. It is not established how much the young Raphael knew of ancient philosophy, what guidance he might have had from people such as Bramante, or whether a detailed program was dictated by his sponsor, Pope Julius II. Nevertheless the fresco was even recently interpreted as an exhortation to philosophy and, in a deeper way, as a visual representation of the role of Love in elevating people toward upper knowledge, largely in debt with the contemporary theories of Marsilio Ficino and other neo-platonic thinkers linked to Raphael.

This may turn out to be an easy question or a difficult one. Only time can show that... But since we're on the subject of Greek philosophers; which novel is this paragraph from:

Quote:

“H’m,” the chief inspector observed, struck with an idea. “Now that I come to think of it, by George! I know where all this fictional-detective stuff started in the first place. With that Greek philosopher chap in Plato’s Dialogues. He always annoyed me. A couple of Greeks would be walking along, not bothering anybody, and up would come this damned philosopher and say, ‘Bon jour’ . . . or whatever they said in Athens . . . ‘Bon jour, gents; have you got anything on hand this afternoon?’ Of course the other chaps didn’t. They never had. There never seemed to be any business to attend to in Greece. All they did was walk about hunting for philosophers. Then Socrates would say, ‘Right you are. Now let’s sit down here and talk.’ Whereupon he would propound some question for them to solve . . . he knew the answer, of course. It was never anything sensible, like ‘What do you think of the Irish question?’ or ‘Who will win the Test Match this year, Athens or Sparta?’ It was always some God-awful question about the soul. Socrates asked the question. Then one of the other chaps spoke up, and talked for about nine pages; and Socrates shook his head sadly and said, ‘No.’ Then another chap took a shot at it, and talked for sixteen pages. And Socrates said, ‘Ah!’ The next victim must have talked till it got dark, and Socrates said, ‘Possibly.’ They never up and hit him over the head with an obelisk, either. That’s what I wanted to do just from reading the thing, because he never would come out and say what he meant. . . . That’s the origin of your detectives in fiction, <*name sencored*>. And I wish you’d stop it.”

[OT]We have a copy of "The School of Athens" behind the cook-top in our kitchen. Most inspiring.[/OT]

[OT REPLY]I've got one in the bedroom. The poster cost around $10 and the frame cost around $150, but it looks nice. Only place the wife will let me hang it. Doesn't go with her Home Interiors stuff.[/OT REPLY]

[OT REPLY]I've got one in the bedroom. The poster cost around $10 and the frame cost around $150, but it looks nice. Only place the wife will let me hang it. Doesn't go with her Home Interiors stuff.[/OT REPLY]

[really of topic] I have a poster of The Garden of Earthly Delights hanging in my bedroom. [/really off topic]